The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

Even as you thought that the race for the best comedy show was between Star and Sony, the real battle was brewing between Hindi and English news channels. The Aaj Taks and India TVs raced ahead and have become synonymous with wholesome humor. The English news channels were groping for direction though, which was definitively provided by one Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, and ably carried forward by the likes of Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt. I have been followingthe latter two recently, and their shows are a blast. Their brand of humor is as different as chalk and cheese, but the effect is undeniable. Thanks to a fortunate coincidence of ad slots and the fact that the two channels are next to one another, I was treated to a non-stop hour of their performance last night, and my stomach still hurts.

Arnab is clearly after a world record. He wants to host a debate where no panelist gets a word in. In fact, he already has the record for not allowing any panelist to complete a single sentence. His acts have me rolling on the floor laughing. Be it his frustration at not getting a straight response or his repeated assertion that India tunes into his show for answers, he is a blast. And I thought he was the definite numero uno until I stumbled upon Barkha Dutt.

Barkha’s humor is more subtle and situational. She patiently lets her guests finish their sentences, and sincerely follows up with a question, which is inevitably the same as her first one, or in the case that it is not, then totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. The poor panelist falls into the trap of repeating his stance, which only encourages Barkha repeat her question one more time. After two or three such rounds, she is bored and moves on to repeat this game with the next panelist. When she is done playing with all the panelists, she returns to the first one and, of course, poses the exact question she had begun the show with. You could see some panelists visibly struggle to kill their sense of déjà vu.

News channels were last on the list of my TV-viewing preference list and God knows I have missed on some fun. It’s time to undo the damage.

Competing on Quality..or the lack thereof

Recently, an article by an IIM-B prof appeared in the WSJ with the message that businesses must gear themselves to face tomorrow's competition or become extinct. Such write ups are pure delight for any self-respecting management grad whose foreordained favorite pastime is to pontificate on how the world will turn out tomorrow even as he is inept to deal with the today's complexities. But I digress.

The article raises valid points and I can relate to one area where I have come close to switching to this kind of "competition". My TV viewing preference is thus: sports, Hollywood movies, Bollywood movies, Bollywood music, news. Leaving out sports and news, the other three choices can be said to fall in the traditional category of "entertainment" and,traditionally, competition for my time must be within this category. Of late, one news channel, riding on one particular program anchored by one disgusting gentleman, has crossed the chasm between information - which is what news traditionally was - and entertainment, with admirable success. The producers of those innumerable cheap comedy shows are facing tough competition from no less than the chief editor of a news channel. Arnab's news hour on Times Now is a riot.

The program is probably a blot on journalistic sensibilities, but it seems to be so on purpose. The manner of debate is deplorable with no semblance of respect accorded to the events, commentators or the audience. I can spend all day ripping it apart, but I cannot deny that from being nowhere on the radar of a entertainment-minded TV viewer profile such as myself, this program suddenly has moved to # 2.